Saturday, January 16, 2010

I think you are right that it is a good sign on the part of conservatives AND a sad sign of the state of affairs on the Left.

As someone who started life as a liberal and grew up to become conservative, I’ve experienced both sides of the spectrum. I have always loved and supported my gay friends (I even had fag-hag status). I now embrace conservative values but have never considered who you love to be a political value. Rather I believe love is a human condition and should be respected regardless of ones politics.

My husband and I know many gay conservatives here and in the UK and we are proud of them. We also have many gay liberal friends and we are proud of them although we disagree on their politics.

Acceptance of all good. law-abiding citizens is one of the first principles of the United States and conservatism. Failure at this is an Epic Fail.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Moreover, the evidence used by the EPA to justify tightening regulations is dubious. The vast majority of the studies the agency relies on have been shown to be methodologically flawed. Their results are belied by the fact that incidence of asthma has nearly doubled in America this past quarter century; even as air pollution of all kinds has dropped. Despite all these studies, there is no new scientific evidence put forward by EPA to justify this new rule. Nor is there any evidence that the current laws are not working.

Why, then, has the EPA proposed this rule? Because the Obama administration wants to increase the cost of energy. The President's flagship global warming policy, "cap and trade," remains stalled in the Senate, with Senators of both parties all too aware of the damage it will do to their states. The President, however, promised in his election campaign that energy rates would "necessarily skyrocket," and the smog rule is another way to achieve that end without having to bother with the messy business of gaining Congressional approval.

As it stands, the latest regulation proposed by the EPA is typical of the Obama administration: a false threat is raised; the Bush administration is accused of failing to address it; and action is taken through the bureaucracy in order to circumvent Congress. Americans should not be fooled. Far from hitting "big business," the EPA's new proposed smog standards amount to yet another indirect tax on consumers, at all income levels.

Left wingers (including but not limited to the New York Times, Mother Jones, Think Progress, Washington Monthly and Ezra Klein) are trying to eliminate dissent in Congress by engaging in a coordinated attack on the idea of the Senate filibuster. Clearly, the left hates extended debate and they are advocating that Vice President Joe Biden eliminate the filibuster by decree as President of the United States Senate. They have no shame.

The Goldman Sachs-AIG scandal may be worse than we think. Former New York Fed President and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is being castigated for paying off AIG's counterparties - Goldman foremost among them - 100 cents on the dollar and then keeping these payments secret. But it seems likely that Goldman actually got much more than 100%. What is worse, Goldman may have received this windfall by trading on information that was deliberately withheld from the public

The Goldman Sachs-AIG scandal may be worse than we think. Former New York Fed President and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is being castigated for paying off AIG's counterparties - Goldman foremost among them - 100 cents on the dollar and then keeping these payments secret. But it seems likely that Goldman actually got much more than 100%. What is worse, Goldman may have received this windfall by trading on information that was deliberately withheld from the public